Sparring
by Bombsquad
Summary: A KOTOR 2 Story (Since there isn't a KOTOR Catagory in 'Games') If to the Echanni combat is a language and fighting is an expression of emotion...what technique shows love?


Disclaimer: I own Vox Reekan in all his incarnations be they in Roleplaying Game, Far Flung Hope Character or protagonist in KOTOR 2. I don't own Knights of the Old Republic 1 or2. OR Starwars. That honor goes to Lucas Arts, and the man that changed Science Fiction forever - George Lucas.

Umm, some of you who've read my Far Flung Hope Series may wonder why I'm writing a Romantic short story that's strictly in one genre...and one form of media, and one strict story universe to boot. Well, call it an impulse I've been unable to restrain. I just needed to flex all my creativity muscles a little.

This might actually be the primer for something larger and longer if I get enough input and it's popular enough...if not then I'll keep the rest to myself.

Spoiler:

A minor, minor spoiler warning if you're interested in what the Handmaiden's name is and who can become a Jedi...

* * *

Sparring:

If to the Echanni, combat is a language and fighting is an expression of emotion...what technique shows love?

Vox Reekan walked through the corridors of the Ebon Hawk. He wasn't exactly pacing...sure...he had spoken to HK-47 enough times to make him wonder about wheither or not his name was 'Vox', or 'Meatbag'. He'd gone over the principles of shielding technology with Bao-dur until his head had spun. He had even spoken to Kreia so much that he didn't want to even think about the force, be he the 'last' of the Jedi, fallen Jedi, or just someone behing hounded by the Sith. And of course, playing Pazaak with Atton had just statred to get old...very...very...old. And with another week till Dantooine, he really couldn't think of how to avoid the subject much.

But even after spending the past two days trying to avoid it. Since he'd spoken to her after Onderon...he couldn't help but feel something very deep and confusing flutter through him. His thoughts hadn't been within his control, even when meditating...all he could think about was her...

The subtle grace as she moved. That lethal elegance in her motions. Her confidence, and yet her curiosity of the galaxy at large. Even the way she spoke was alluring and inticing, yet not deliberately...simply an inadvertent attractiveness that she posessed.

Vox sighed...he had to do something...even a Jedi could become confused as to what to do. He couldn't help but feel the irony of the moment. A veteran of the Mandalorian Wars, of Malachor V a Jedi Veteran even...and he was becomming overwhelmed by his feelings. A dangrous thing for a Jedi.

Vox ran his hand through his hair and sighed again. He couldn't figure out what to do on his own. So he walked around the passages of the Ebon Hawk.

"You can stop wearing a hole in the decking and sit down if you like." Atton said sounding annoyed. Vox blinked and realized he'd walked up to the cockpit. Atton was sitting in his usual position at the pilot's chair, hunched forward and working with the controls. He hadn't glanced up at all.

"You're getting better than I am with that trick." Vox said.

"Well, you're not as bad a teacher as you like to think you are." Atton said and glanced up.

"Thanks, I think." Vox said with a half smile.

"You've been walking around the ship for I don't want to know how long. I think you're starting to wear off the deck surfacing. Sit down."

"Alright, alright." Vox said and settled into the waiting co-pilot's seat. He leaned his head against the chair and closed his eyes, trying to clear his mind of all thought and emotion...and failed.

"So. How long have you been having this problem." Atton asked, still not looking up from his control pannel.

"What are you talking about?" Vox asked, trying to sound confused.

"Uh, hello...you've been training me since we first went to Nar Shadda. I have figured out how to do a thing or two since then. And besides, you're sending off feelings like Hutt stench." Atton said. Vox chuckled and smiled.

"You're right. I guess you do listen to me every once and a while." Vox said.

"Yeah, but with the vibes you're sending out you're starting to make my head hurt. What exactly is going on with you? You haven't been right since we left Duxn." Atton asked, finally looking up from his controls. Vox noted with some annoyance that Atton hadn't been fiddling with the controls at all...he'd been playing pazzak hands.

"It's something of a personal matter..." Vox said half-heartedly trying to defend his own privacy, but knowing that it wasn't going to work.

"When my head starts to hurt and you wear down my deck-plates...it's my buisness. And besides, you've gotten to ask me all the deep questions that you want to, now it's my turn." Atton jabbed.

"Still..." Vox said with a sigh and felt his resolve not to say anything stiffen somewhat, but not enough to get defensive.

Atton sat there in silence for a few more minutes. The noises of the consoles and the ship in general competing with the soft taps as he shuffled and dealt out pazzak cards before him. Vox closed his eyes and tried to meditate once more, the soft noises somewhat soothing...until Atton spoke up again.

"You remember back after we got to Nar Shadda. When you asked me about where I learned that Echanni training? I know you do. Well, I never did tell you everything I know about Echanni Martial Arts. Didn't seem relevant at the time, but I do know a thing or two about etiquite amongst Echanni..." Atton said. Vox could feel the sideways glance that Atton gave him without the Force. He didn't move or make any sign of noticing, or acknowledging his glance.

"Just a little fact for you...Echanni don't see duels as something agressive or stemming from a conflict. They're funny that way. They see one on one combat as an expression of something. And how you fight someone, how you interact with them in combat...it's a method of expression for them." Atton said. He did a good job of sounding like he was babbling just to fill dead space in the conversation...But Vox had known Atton for a while now, and he sure as frell knew that Atton didn't babble. He knew exactly what he was saying.

"They even consider such close dues to be intimate affairs. Especially between men and women, they have special signifigance for the Echanni. It's in a duel between a man and a woman that their true feelings for each other are expressed. Even if one is Echanni and the other is not...it means the same thing." Atton said and trailed off.

Vox sat there and thought about it. Really thought about it... Perhaps he hadn't intended for it to happen, but it had happened irregardless. He stood up and walked back towards the center hold.

"Just remember, she cares more for actions than words." Atton said over his shoulder. Vox looked up at him, and then simply kept walking to the center cargo bay. With a slight groan he eased into one of the chairs by the main holoprojector and put his boots up on the holoprojector. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes again, this time not trying to meditated, but sleep.

"For a 'jedi' you really don't keep up the mistique or noblilty of the title." Vox heard a female voice jab from behind him with a slight chuckle.

Mira.

Vox opened his eyes and lifted his head. Mira had been standing in the secure cargo compartment that HK-47 had dwelt in for a long time. But right now the red headed bounty hunter - now turned jedi Sentinel was stepping out of her little niche and walking around the seats.

"And you do?" Vox scoffed with a smile.

"Maybe not. Now that you mention it..." Mira said and sat down.

"What?" Vox asked.

"You haven't been your usual calm, quiet, and controled self for the past few days. What's up?" Mira asked with a calculating gaze. Vox ignored it and muled matters over in his own mind for a moment.

"My mind has been a little pre-occupied for the past few days. Nothing to worry about."

"Yeah right, you're being chased by Sith lords and the entire remainder of their fleet. If your mind has been pre-occupied with something other than that I think we should all be just a little worried." Mira said.

Vox turned to Mira with an expression of something between amusement and exhaustion.

"Confusion...bad sign..." Mira said with a frown.

"I'm not confused...I know exactly how confusing my feelings are right now." Vox said and Mira's frown slipped into a slight smile.

"It's about her isn't it?" Mira said with a nod towards the cargo bay.

"Yes." Vox said.

"And what seems to be the problem?" Mira asked

"If you're asking about a problem then you already know what's going on." Vox replied.

"Humor me." Mira said simply. Vox looked at the other jedi for a moment, and he knew exactly what she was thinking. She wasn't concerned for anything other than what was wrong with him, not how it influenced everyone else, not how it influenced their mission...just how it influenced him.

"I think that she's gotten rather attached to me. Very attached to me." Vox said simply.

"Now tell me what's really going on." Mira said with the no-nonsense tone that only a woman who'd grown up with Mandalorians and spent a lifetime as a bounty hunter could project. Vox grimaced slightly at her statement.

"Handmaiden is in love with me." Vox said. Mira arched her eyebrows and looked a little flustered.

"Oh...well...I wasn't expecting that..." Mira said with a little embarassment seeping into her voice.

"What did you expect?" Vox asked.

"That you were worried about the Handmaiden and Visas's little arguments that have been going on. I had thought it was about the Handmaiden and Visas both feeling the need to defend you...I hadn't thought that she was in love with you." Mira said.

"You were with me and her when we treked through the jungles of Duxn before we met the Mandalorians. And all the other places we've gone to...everything we've been through together... You couldn't see it?" Vox asked.

"I just thought that was just her being protective, not something more, _intimate_..." Mira said. Vox smiled and visualized the sublte signs that he'd seen on Duxn, the signs that had finally pushed him into the conclusion that Handmaiden was in love with him.

"Yeah, well I've known the Handmaiden a little longer than you have and I just figured this out myself." Vox said.

Mira nodded and the pair sat in silence for a while.

"So, what are you going to do?" Mira asked.

"What?"

"Well, do you love her back?" Mira said.

"...I don't know...that's what's been bothering me so much for the past few days." Vox said.

"Ah. Well, considering we're going to Dantooine to meet with the Jedi Masters, you'd better get your thoughts in order and sort this out. Because I've got a feeling that somethings going to happen on Dantooine and you're going to need to be on your best footing." Mira said and stood up.

"No more advice?" Vox asked.

"You're the Jedi Master. I'm just the student. I can't give you all the answers now can I?" Mira said with a final smile before dissapearing down the hall towards the starboard dormitories. Vox watched her for a moment and then looked at the passage that led to the cargo bay where he knew that she was training.

Vox stood up slowly and headed towards the passage to the cargo bay. For all that Vox had gone through...the Mandalorian Wars, from Duxn and Malachor, to the much more recent trials against the Sith to save the republic...this seemed to be much more difficult to face than any Sith lord.

He turned the corner and had to practically force himself to walk towards the cargo bay. His feet felt to heavy to move, but he pressed on, his sheer force of will...the sheer need to resolve this was enough to make him walk to the cargo hold.

She was standing at the center of a ring of remotes, the six small droids circled her randomly. Their large orbits all centered around her as she stood there with a pair of short-bladed lightsabers held in her own unique style. Her eyes were closed and her face locked into an expression of soft concentration. Vox could feel the overwhelming sense of calm that radiated from her as she stood there.

The Handmaiden wasn't clad in a full set of robes for her training. She was dressed in a cross between her normal appearence, and her very scantily clad training outfit. She wore the white lower robes of her normal outfit, and a white tank-top. She wasn't wearing clothes as revealing as they had been the first time they'd trained together...she'd only been wearing her undergarmets at that duel.

Vox had managed to convince her to wear something less revealing since then, but this was about as covered as it got for her during training.

Vox's own concentration and gentelmanly nature wore off for a moment as he apraised the Handmaiden's traning outfit, she had begun her form.

As one, the remotes flew into action around her, letting loose a torent of stun bolts into the air, with her as their target. Smoothly and with an elegance that only she could manage, she brought her lightsabers up and began to parry the storm of bolts.

Unlike most Jedi, the Handmaiden had taken her own route for weilding lightsabers. Instead of holding both of the blades normaly, with the energy blade directed upwards towards her thumbs, she held them reversed. Each blade's energy blade was facing down in a position that gave her much more mobility. That was the reason that she weilded two short-bladed lightsabers instead of a single or double blade.

Her violet bladed sabers cast a brilliant color effect on her white garments, pale skin and white hair as they danced in a smooth curtain of protection. Each bolt skipped off of the sabers as she spun in place and brought the blades flying around her body. The techniques and movements that she used to weild her blades would have killed someone that used longer lightsabers or a single blade.

As she moved, the twirling violet blades were almost hypnotic in the half-light of the cargo bay. The sharp turns and twists that she brought the blades around in made shortlived crecents of light appear, with flashes of white as the blue stun shots were deflected into the ceiling or the floor around her fleet.

Then, as though a switch had been flipped, the Handmaiden struck out, switching her form seamlessly from the defensive to the offensive. In a single motion, two remotes were impaled by her short blades. Even as the small droids sparked and hung in the air, the Echanni warrior ducked and evaded a series of stun shots without moving her feet or braking her stance.

With a movement of her hands, both short-blades wrenched free from their remotes and came back to circle her in a twirling and spinning sphere of violet light. More stun bolts flew into the ceiling or floor as they flew through the air, completely free of any physical contact with the Handmaiden.

Suddenly, the Handmaiden's foot flew out from the dancing lightsabers and smashed one of the remotes. With lightning speed and accuracy, the leg pulled back into the cover of the twriling blades. Several more times, the Echanni's feet or hands darted out from the shield and dealt with the hovering remotes.

As the last one fell, the blades stopped spinning and returned to her hands. Vox noted that her skin had become covered with beads of sweat. She sighed once and deactivated the blades. Her stance shifted from one of combat to one of relaxation and comfort.

"That's an interesting form." Vox said, his interest momentarily shifted from one of internal turmoil to combat. He noted with some suprise that the Handmaiden jumped slightly at the sound of his voice. He also saw the stance she had shift ever so slightly, as though she wanted to brace herself for something.

"Oh, I didn't sense your presence." The Handmaiden said softly as she turned to face Vox.

"Sorry about that, I was just admiring your new technique." Vox said.

"Yes...I decided that if I am going to follow the path of the Jedi, I could use my Echanni training to further enhance my fighting abilities." The Handmaiden said, her eyes not fully meeting Vox's.

"Have you sparred anyone using your new form?" Vox asked, not knowing why he was avoiding the issue that he'd come here to discuss. But the expression that the Handmaiden had on her face seemed to be answer enough...she'd been waiting for this.

"Are you offering to duel with me again?" The Handmaiden asked, her voice tinged with hope, and with aprehension.

"Yes." Vox replied simply. The Handmaiden's eyes finaly shifted up and locked with his. Vox looked deep into her silvery eyes and saw something within them...something that he had never truly witnessed before.

He saw love within them.

Vox smiled and nodded.

"This will be the last time we can spar...this will decide things, and it will resolve things better than words can. Are you sure that you want this? Truly?" The Handmaiden said.

"Yes, yes I do." Vox replied. The Handmaiden's face broke into the first smile he had ever seen upon it.

"Then you must know that this duel has none of the restrictions. We can use any weapon or power that we have at our command. Of course, we shall stop when one of us yeilds to the other, or when a killing blow is about to be struck. Then the duel is finished." The Handmaiden said, stepping away from Vox and lifting her sabers. He nodded, then as was traditional, removed the upper layer of his Jal Shey Mentor armor. He laid the simple green robes and intricate armor on the deck and drew his own lightsaber.

With a flick of his hand the hatch to the rest of the ship sealed and left the pair alone and in private.

"Hold nothing back. For I shall not." The Handmaiden said before she lunged forward.

A gap of about fifteen feet seperated the pair, but she crossed the gap in a heartbeat, her tense muscles propelling her forward, and augmented with the Force. Vox crouched and slid across the deckplates as though he were on Hoth ice. His lightsaber seemed to activate as though of it's own accord. The hiss as it came to life the loudest sound in the chamber, drowning out the sounds of their breathing, and the soft noises as they sliced through air.

The silver blade sliced through the air and down from his grip, catching both of the violet blades and deflecting them down in a shower of sparks. He turned and twirled the energy blade up and around, into an arch that would have been a garanteed killing blow had they been in real combat. He would bring the blade to a halt close enough that she could feel the energy...

But she wasn't where she was supposed to be, instead of recoiling to retain her balance, she rolled forward, the edge of Vox's blade nearly flaying skin off her leg as she rolled. Vox was suprised at the motion, but he should have expected it. The Handmaiden had always been quick to adapt and quick to change tactics when she needed too.

He always wondered why such a skilled warrior should be called 'The last of the Handmaidens'.

He didnt' have time to contemplate the matter, she was turning back to the attack. From her kneeling position, she made another lunge towards him, this time, both blades held locked together in front of her. Vox didn't know what she was planning, but he held his blade in a guarded position against her blades.

But she wasn't going to use her blades to attack. A mere hair's width from having their blades touch, she dropped down, sliding along the deck on one leg. Her other foot lashing out towards Vox's left ankle. It was clearly aimed at either breaking the joint or throwing him off balance.

As her bare foot darted towards his ankle, her raised it up, carefully directing his weight to his other leg. Her foot slid beneath his and he brought it down on her calf. The sudden change in momentum threw her plans awry.

Vox brought his blade around in an underhand swing, the blade aimed at her neck. As he swung it around in the movement that would end the duel, his eyes tracked up from his 'target' and to her face.

And as he did so, he felt his heart skip a moment. The Handmaiden's expression wasn't one of anger, or fierce aciton and purpose... It was one of eger hope, her eyes seemed alight with an energy that he had rarely seen come from her. Vox's mind snapped back to something that Kreia had said to him long ago...just after the Handmaiden had come aboard.

_'Do you know what it would mean if you vanquished her in combat...If she fully and truly surrendered herself to you?'_

'I do now...' Vox thought to himself. As the saber flashed down, he arrested it's momentum to keep it from actually touching her at all...

But instead of give up the Handmaiden ducked down, beneath the arch the saber would have taken...and brough her un-trapped leg around in a vicious sweep that threw Vox off balance and brought him to his knees. The Echanni used the momentum of the sweep to spin her around on the smooth deck and then hand-vaulted away from him, back to where she started at.

Vox saw the fierce look that her face had changed too. Her silver eyes sparkling with energy. She readied her blades and looked at him, awaiting his move in the intricate dance. Vox stood ready, his own stance anchored in the Makashi form. He didn't know what to do...his own mind wrapped around what he wanted at this moment...

Mira's words echoed in her mind...

_'Well, do you Love her back?'_

'Do I?' Vox asked.

He let his mind step back from the combat posture it had fallen into. He looked at her, and finally thought about her. Not as a warrior, not as a servant of Atris, not as a jedi, not as a compainion...as a woman, a woman that cared about him, as a woman that wanted to do everything possible to protect him...as a woman that loved him...

'...Yes...I love her...'

Vox deactivated his lightsaber and lowered it. He could feel the Handmaiden's suprise radiate from her as he did so, along with her sorrow.

"What are you doing?" She asked, her voice heavy with sadness.

"I won't fight you...not to defeat you or to conquer you..." Vox said.

"You have to...unless...you don't..." She said slowly, almost too softly to hear.

It was as though she'd lost the will to even stand. She sank to her knees on the deck. With a soft hiss, her lightsabers deactivated, and she sat there in the muted glow of the cargo bay lights. Her shoulders slumped and her entire body seemed to sag as she knelt there. In the sudden still silence of the cargo bay, he heard her crying.

Vox felt a pain wrench through him as he walked towards her. He didn't know what to say, he didn't know how to explain to her. He stood over her and knelt down, his hand reaching out towards her...and almost instinctively it seemed, she pulled away from him, move away from her sabers and towards the small sleeping pallet that she had.

"Just leave me be..." She said, softly, but with an icy strength to them.

"Wait...just wait..." Vox said, his own hand brushing her shoulder. She turned further away from him and recoiled from his touch. Vox hesitated for a moment and then grabbed her, not caring about how she would react, only caring that he would get her attention long enough to explain...

Instead of stiffening to her touch, she simply allowed herself to be spun back around towards him. She was still limp, and wouldn't lift her head to face him.

"Why...why won't you defeat me? Why won't you fight me?" She asked, her voice sounding defeated and weak.

"Because I love you." Vox said. As the words left his mouth, he could feel her entire demeanor change in a moment. She raised her head up and looked into his eyes. Vox could see the streaks of tears running down her face, but he could also see the light and energy that danced in her eyes. He could feel the emotions that ran off her like the torrents of a river.

"Y-You do? Truly love me?" She asked, her voice seemed to quiver with hope.

"Yes. That's why I won't defeat you. I don't want to have you surrender to me, I don't want to dominate you...I want to love you." Vox said with a smile. The Handmaiden's arms reached up and wraped around his shoulders, latching onto him as she laid her head onto his shoulder. Vox was taken of guard by this simple gesture, but hugged her right back.

"Vox..." The Handmaiden said. With some suprise, he realized this was the first time that he had ever heard her use his name...it had always been 'Exile', 'Master', or more commonly, 'Jedi'.

"Yes?" He asked.

"I'm Brianna." She said. Vox smiled at the simple gesture that meant so much right then. She'd always been 'The Handmaiden' since they'd met...nothing else. No matter how hard he'd tried he had never been able to get her to tell him her name.

"Brianna..." Vox said. She tilted her head up and looked at him.

He smiled and gazed into her silver eyes and saw the care and love that resided there.

"I love you." He said and kissed her.

For that moment...everything else in the galaxy didn't matter to him.

Not the Republic.

Not the Sith.

Not the Jedi.

Nothing mattered, other than her.


End file.
